Parton Distribution Function from the Hadronic Tensor on the Lattice
The path-integral formulation of the hadronic tensor W_{\mu\nu} of deep inelastic scattering is reviewed. It is shown that there are 3 gauge invariant and topologically distinct contributions. The separation of the connected sea partons from those of the disconnected sea can be achieved with a combination of the global fit of the parton distribution function (PDF), the semi-inclusive DIS data on the strange PDF and the lattice calculation of the ratio of the strange to momentum fraction in the disconnected insertion. We shall discuss numerical issues associated with lattice calculation of the hadronic tensor involving a four-point function, such as large hadron momenta and improved maximum entropy method to obtain the spectral density from the hadronic tensor in Euclidean time. We also draw a comparison between the large momentum approach to the parton distribution function (PDF) and the hadronic tensor approach.